Vacuum sellers trying to clean up

BARTONVILLE — Several salespeople from Iowa came to Peoria County this month trying to sell Kirby vacuums, but after two days one had been arrested and their solicitor’s permit had been revoked.

Bartonville Police Chief Brian Fengel said Aimee M. Crist, 25 of 3438 Heatherston Apt. 4 in Davenport and Dustin Delpivo, 31, of 2615 W. Central Park Ave. in Davenport, were granted a solicitor’s permit on Jan. 12 to sell Kirby Company vacuums in the area. The permit was revoked Jan. 14 after he found they were using two employees not covered by the permit — Sean White and Benjamin G. Humphrey, both of Davenport.

Humphrey, 29, of 344 Heatherton Drive in Davenport was charged with theft under $300 after a 71-year-old woman who lives in the 2600 block of Daycor Divide in Peoria County reported $30 to $50 missing after White and Humphrey performed a free cleaning there Jan. 14. The missing money was not recovered.

Humphrey was released on bond from the Peoria County Jail and has a Feb. 26 court date on his theft charge. He has until Friday to pay a $150 city ordinance violation for soliciting without a permit in Bartonville.

He posted $175 bond and paid fee to Stark County, which issued a warrant for failure to appear on a marijuana possession charge in November 2013.

Police also said that on Jan. 14, Crist and an unidentified man came to her home in the 4800 block of Whipp Avenue in Bartonville. A resident wrote a check for $1,070 to Delpivo for a new vacuum to be delivered the next morning.

When no one showed up and phone calls to Delpivo weren’t returned, the residents called police after canceling their check.

Midwest Elite is listed on Kirby’s website as an authorized, independent Kirby distributor. Through an email, Halle Sminchak, Kirby’s director of customer and public relations, said, “the relationship between the company and the distributorships is that of vendor and vendee. The company expects its independent distributors to operate legally and ethically.”

Midwest Elite HCS didn’t comment on whether the four are employees.

Fengel said it’s common for out-of-town sales teams to apply for solicitor’s permits and warns residents to be cautious when people come to their door.

Robert Connelly can be reached at rconnelly@pjstar.com or 686-3251. Follow him on Twitter @RConnelly_PJS.